Abstract
Functional plasticity at cortical synapses and neurons is presumably associated with learning and memory. Additionally, coordinated refinement between glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons occurs in associative memory. If these assumptions are present, neuronal plasticity strength and learning efficiency should be correlated. We have examined whether neuronal plasticity strength and learning efficiency are quantitatively correlated in a mouse model of associative learning. Paired whisker and odor stimulations in mice induce odorant-induced whisker motions. The fully establishment of this associative memory appears fast and slow, which are termed as high learning efficiency and low learning efficiency, respectively. In the study of cellular mechanisms underlying this differential learning efficiency, we have compared the strength of neuronal plasticity in the barrel cortices that store associative signals from the mice with high vs. low learning efficiencies. Our results indicate that the levels of learning efficiency are linearly correlated with the upregulated strengths of excitatory synaptic transmission on glutamatergic neurons and their excitability, as well as the downregulated strengths of GABAergic neurons' excitability, their excitatory synaptic inputs and inhibitory synaptic outputs in layers II~III of barrel cortices. The correlations between learning efficiency in associative memory formation and coordinated plasticity at cortical glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons support the notion that the plasticity of associative memory cells is a basis for memory strength.
Highlights
Associative learning is a common approach for information acquisition and associative memory is essential to cognition (Wasserman and Miller, 1997; Suzuki, 2008; Wang and Cui, 2017)
If neural plasticity is involved in the efficiency of information acquisition and memory presentation, the strength of neural plasticity should be correlated with the efficiency of associative learning and memory, which we aim to examine through this manuscript
Barrel cortical glutamatergic neurons express the increases in excitatory synaptic transmission and spiking ability as well as the decreases in inhibitory synaptic transmission (Figures 2–4)
Summary
Associative learning is a common approach for information acquisition and associative memory is essential to cognition (Wasserman and Miller, 1997; Suzuki, 2008; Wang and Cui, 2017). A current report demonstrates that excitatory synaptic transmission on glutamatergic neurons and their excitability are upregulated as well as that the excitability of GABAergic neurons and their input and output synaptic transmission are downregulated in the somatosensory cortices during associative memory (Yan et al, 2016). Whether their coordinated plasticity is correlated with the efficiency of associative learning and memory needs to be elucidated
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have